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WHAT'S DOING IN; New York

There's an agreeable feeling of deja vu in New York's crisp autumn air, a sense that certain characteristics from the 1980's have resurfaced. True, shoulder pads are less pronounced and no one is predicting a rapid reprise of ''greed is good.'' But a sense of prosperity has returned, or so it seems.

Crime is dropping and restaurants continue to spring up at a breathless pace. For the first time in six years, Broadway will have five new musicals by Thanksgiving. Areas like Times Square and Chelsea have perked up. And beloved landmarks, from Grant's Tomb high on Riverside Drive to Grand Central Terminal, are renovated in a frenzy of pre-millennial housecleaning.

Signs of new life are all over. Consider the cozy if nondescript block of Elizabeth Street between Houston and Prince Streets in SoHo, now home to a sprinkling of proudly glitz-free restaurants and shops.

New York is in its prime in the fall, which accounts for the crowds this time of year. Still, with over 150 museums, 400 art galleries, 17,000 restaurants, 42,000 theater seats, 66 historic districts and 6 zoos, there's something for everyone.

''Monet and the Mediterranean,'' on view Oct. 10 to Jan. 4 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway, features more than 60 of his less familiar works, including a series of Venice cityscapes painted in autumn. Open Wednesday to Friday 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., Saturday 11 A.M. to 9 P.M. and Sunday 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. Admission: $4; Monet tickets: $8. Information: (888) 446-6638.

With more than 400 color-drenched paintings, prints, objects and collages, ''Robert Rauschenberg, a Retrospective'' documents nearly 50 years of the modernist's protean production at both outposts of the Guggenheim -- through Jan. 7 at the uptown galleries, 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street, and until Jan. 4 at the SoHo branch, 575 Broadway at Prince Street. The uptown museum, where the show plays chronologically, is open Sunday to Wednesday, 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Friday and Saturday until 8 P.M. Closed Thursday. Admission is $15. The SoHo gallery, displaying recent works, is open Sunday and Wednesday to Friday 11 A.M. to 6 P.M., and Saturday until 8 P.M. Admission: $8; (212) 423-3500.

Though the new Broadway season officially starts on June 1 after the Tony awards, it doesn't rev up until the fall. An early entry, a stylish revival of the 1969 Revolutionary War musical ''1776'' runs through Nov. 9 at the Roundabout, 1530 Broadway at 45th Street. Tickets: $70, $35 for children; (212) 869-8400.

''The Scarlet Pimpernel,'' from Baroness Orczy's swashbuckling novel of the French Revolution with music by Frank Wildhorn, opens Nov. 9 at the Minskoff, 200 West 45th Street. Tickets: $20 to $75; (212) 307-4100. ''The Lion King,'' with music by Elton John, opens Nov. 13 at the New Amsterdam, 214 West 42d Street. Tickets: $25 to $75; (212) 282-2900.

The Big Apple Circus, the chipper one-ring entertainment, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new show at Lincoln Center, Oct. 23 to Jan. 11. Besides an international sampling of acrobats, aerialists and clowns, there is a ''Pachyderm Ballet.'' Tickets from $10; (212) 268-2500.

For a look at how circus life has evolved in New York from the equestrian John Bill Rickett's first Broadway circus in 1793, visit the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Avenue and 103d Street. It is presenting an exhibition of memorabilia and posters, ''Under the Big Top: Circus in New York,'' Oct. 18 to Feb. 22. Open Wednesday through Saturday 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., Sunday 1 to 5 P.M. Admission is free, with a suggested contribution of $5; (212) 534-1672.

For ballet enthusiasts, this is one of the busiest autumns in years. American Ballet Theater stages its first performances in two decades at City Center, 130 West 55th Street, Nov. 4 to 16. ''Festival of Commissioned Works'' features 11 one-act ballets by Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Agnes DeMille, Antony Tudor and George Balanchine, with new works by Nacho Duato and Jean-Christophe Maillot. Tickets: $30 to $55; (212) 581-1212.

At the New York City Ballet, Merrill Ashley will dance her farewell performance on opening night, Nov. 25, at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. Remaining tickets: $15 to $65; (212) 870-5570.

The New York Botanical Garden at 200th Street and Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, continues to show off the restored Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the nation's pre-eminent Victorian glasshouse. ''The Big Bugs,'' 15 dinosaur-sized sculptures fashioned from limbs, vines and twigs, are scattered throughout the grounds through Nov. 2. And the Chrysanthemum and Bonsai Festival, Oct. 16 to 19, is a fragrant ode to the autumn flowers and miniature trees of Japan and Korea. The garden is open 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. through October, until 4 P.M. after. Closed Monday. Admission: $3, and $3.75 for the conservatory; (718) 817-8700.

The sprawling grounds of Wave Hill, high above the Hudson River at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue in Riverdale, the Bronx, are lovely for a stroll. Sunday concerts at 2 P.M. in Armor Hall, with gardens visible through Gothic windows, include classical music by the Arcata Quartet on Oct. 5 and by the pianists Igor Kipnis and Karen Kushner on Nov. 2, and the Aria Hendricks Jazz Ensemble on Nov. 23. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 9 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., till 4:30 P.M. from Oct. 14. Admission: $8 to $12 for concert, $4 grounds only; (718) 549-3200.

A fine place to enjoy the brisk autumn air and get a little exercise is Chelsea Piers, 23d Street at the Hudson. The two big outdoor roller rinks there allow skaters to gaze onto the river and its parade of boats and birds. Admission is $4, skate rental $10, Monday through Friday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., weekends noon to 5 P.M.; (212) 336-6200.

Opened Monday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in Battery Park City, offers three floors of Jewish culture from the late 1800's to after World War II, including videotapes of survivors. Open Sunday to Wednesday, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., Thursday to 8 P.M., Friday to 2 P.M. Admission: $7; (212) 968-1800.

Where to Stay

Though New York has more than 59,000 hotel rooms, high occupancy is expected this fall, and prices have soared. But rates are often negotiable. The following hotels were renovated within the last two years.

With its 85 rooms bathed in beiges and creams, the Shoreham, 33 West 55th Street, has a soigne style vaguely reminiscent of the 30's. Though suites are glamorous, with glass Shoji-style doors, the smaller rooms can be snug. Doubles from $245, including Continental breakfast; (212) 247-6700, fax 765-9741.

In 1981, the Barbizon Hotel for Women became conventionally co-ed. Since its latest renovation, the Barbizon, at 140 East 63d Street, features a sprawling lobby and 310 pastel rooms. But its biggest asset may be the enormous basement Equinox fitness center, spa and pool opening Nov. 3. Doubles start at $210; (212) 838-5700, fax 888-4271.

Luxury: The New York Palace, 455 Madison Avenue at 50th Street, has had a massive, much-needed renovation. Though attention has hovered around Le Cirque 2000, the hotel's showcase restaurant, the Palace is quietly luxurious with a health club overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral, and 903 well-appointed rooms. Many are enormous, with thrilling views. Doubles start at $400; (212) 888-7000, fax 303-6000.

Budget: The 169 rooms at the Best Western Manhattan, 17 West 32d Street, can be small and dark, but are clean and have coffee makers and Nintendo games. Doubles from $169; (212) 736-1600, fax 563-4007.

Where to Eat

Balthazar, SoHo's new French bistro at 80 Spring Street, between Lafayette and Broadway, is a hot night-time scene, with a crowded bar, cushiony red-leather banquettes, classic steak frites and huge, artfully distressed mirrors, perfect for celebrity spotting. Lunch is a less hectic time to sample the zingy atmosphere -- and the superb cheeseburger -- though the noise still resonates off the tile floor and tin ceiling. Dinner for two with wine costs about $100; (212) 965-1414.

Dinner and a movie is the ultimate no-fuss date, and with a restaurant, bar and theater under one roof, the Screening Room, 54 Varick Street, just below Canal Street, enables you to dine leisurely and still make the movie. The dimly lighted restaurant serves stylish American dishes, like roast chicken and pan-roasted quail, and scrumptious desserts like toasted angel food cake. The theater shows new and vintage independent films. The movie and film package costs $30 a person; (212) 334-2100.

With sophisticated food, sensuous aromas and the innovative cooking of chef and co-owner Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Jean Georges in the Trump International Hotel, 1 Central Park West, has joined the ranks of Manhattan's premier restaurants. Though austere, the dining room is a congenial backdrop for succulent, often surprising dishes, like garlic soup with sauteed frogs' legs. Dinner for two without wine is about $200; (212) 299-3900.

Bouley Bakery, the petite new restaurant attached to a bakery at 120 West Broadway at Duane Street, marks the return of the celebrated chef David Bouley, who closed his hugely successful restaurant Bouley in 1996. Dishes like organic chicken with rosemary, asparagus and morels are inventive, appealing and costly. Dinner for two costs around $140, without wine; (212) 964-2525.

You don't expect a Japanese restaurant on the doorstep of Little Italy, so it's easy to stroll past Mottsu, 285 Mott Street, near Houston Street. But it is hip, neighborly and low key, with a savvy chef who artfully arranges buttery sushi. Closed Monday and no reservations are taken. Dinner for two with a drink: about $60; (212) 343-8017.

With two Upper West Side outposts, Cafe Con Leche, 424 Amsterdam Avenue at 81st Street, near the American Museum of Natural History, (212) 595-7000, and 726 Amsterdam Avenue at 95th, (212) 678-7000, serves substantial Cuban dishes like rice with beans and Spanish sausage ($8.95) and shredded beef ($7.95) in brightly colored rooms.